Ohio man charged with car sale fraud

An Ohio man is in the Lenawee County Jail on charges of defrauding an Adrian couple out of $10,500 they thought was buying them a Mini Cooper from a New York woman who did not drive.

Shabazz Boukary-Martinson, 26, a Columbus-area resident, was arraigned Monday by video from the Lenawee County Jail on felony charges of identity theft and false pretenses $1,000-$20,000. A hearing was set for June 3 in district court and his $100,000 bond continued.

The charges are the result of a young Adrian couple’s attempt to buy a used car over the Internet last August, said Detective Greg Lanford of the Adrian Police Department. Their money ended up in a bank account controlled by Frib Innovations LLC, a business formed by Boukary-Martinson.

“It was gone in three or four days,” Lanford said.

And no Mini Cooper was shipped to Adrian.

The couple thought they were dealing on the eBay auction site with a woman in New York City who ended up with a car after she and her husband split up, Lanford said. She did not drive, they were told.

They agreed on a price and the Adrian couple went to their credit union to have the money wired as instructed by the seller.

Lanford said officials at the local credit union checked with JPMorgan Chase to confirm it handled escrow accounts for eBay sales. The money was then sent to an account in Ohio where the couple believed it would be held until they indicated satisfaction with their purchase.

“All went well, except the vehicle never arrived,” Lanford said.

The couple went to Adrian police.

Lanford said he was able to trace the name of the woman they believed was selling the car to Detroit. When he checked at her address, he said, he learned she was the wife of a Japanese Mitsubishi executive who had been transferred back to Japan.

“There was no car,” Lanford said. The entire sale had been staged, he said.

An investigation of the Ohio bank account revealed no connection to the Japanese woman. Instead of an escrow account, he said, it was a standard bank account belonging to Frib Innovations LLC, the company owned by Boukary-Martinson.

Money started being withdrawn from the account shortly after the Adrian couple wired their payment, he said. Nothing was left to seize by the time police located the account.

Westerville, Ohio, police arrested Boukary-Martinson on warrants issued by the Lenawee County Prosecutor’s Office. After losing an extradition fight, an Ohio court ordered Boukary-Martinson sent to Adrian. He arrived Friday evening at the Lenawee County Jail.

A public defender was appointed to the case Monday. Lanford said the suspect has not given a statement to police.

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